1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvement of equipment generally used in the nursery field; more particularly, it relates to an attachment for converting conventional rotary lawn mowers into mobile vacuums with hose-type pick-up elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is receognized by all users of rotary lawn mowers that the rapidly rotating cutter blade creates some vacuum force when the housing is in close proximity to the ground. Such lawn mowers, however, rely principally upon the air flow created by rotation of the blade to transport cut grass and debris into the bagging attachment.
There is a need for equipment that will remove leaves and other light debris from flower beds, around shrubbery, and other relatively difficult to reach locations. Lawn cutting equipment, such as sickle-type lawn cutters, have occasionally included vacuum chambers to pick up the cut grass; but this does not help in removing debris from areas beyond the housing of the lawn cutters. There have also been modifications of rotary lawn mowers to make them function as sweepers and in some instances, the conventional flat blades have been replaced by fan blades; but, here too, no provision was made for gaining access to out-of-the-way areas.
To date, there are no known simple and economical attachments which can be used to rapidly convert the millions of existing rotary mowers into leaf vacuums capable of clearing flower beds and the like.